An advisor to Republican John McCain said that the candidate would not
meet with a politically moderate Cuban-American organization because it
''embraced'' Democrat Barack Obama and his call for overhauling the Bush
administration's Cuba policy.

The Cuban American National Foundation tried to set up a meeting with
McCain last month in New Orleans on the same day he was attending a private
fundraiser organized by one of the group's directors. The foundation is
officially nonpartisan, but many individual members are politically active.

Lobbyist Ana Navarro, a McCain advisor who frequently travels with the
campaign, did an interview with WAQI-710 Radio Mambí from New Orleans
on June 4, the day after the fundraiser.

''I understand [the foundation] had intended to come to a fundraiser
in New Orleans, that they offered a large sum of money in exchange for
a private meeting with McCain. They were told no,'' she said. "I don't
like talking about the foundation, because I consider them fairly irrelevant.''

She added: "It is obvious they have chosen, they have embraced, they
have given a welcome and a forum to Barack Obama -- a man who wants to
sit down with Raúl Castro without preconditions. . . . So I don't
understand the insistence of the gentlemen in the Cuban American National
Foundation in wanting to get together with John McCain when John McCain
doesn't want to get together with them.''

The McCain campaign did not respond to repeated requests Tuesday for
comment.

McCain and Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were all invited
to the foundation's Cuban Independence Day luncheon in Miami in May. Only
Obama appeared, and gave a speech to the group.

The foundation agrees with Obama's call to allow Cuban Americans to
freely travel to Cuba and send money to family on the island, arguing that
the Bush administration's crackdown separates families and has failed to
usher in democracy. CANF officials disagree, however, with Obama's willingness
to pursue ''direct diplomacy'' with the communist regime.

''CANF does not belong to either party,'' said New Orleans attorney
George Fowler, a CANF director who attended Obama's Miami speech but decided
to help organize the fundraiser in his hometown for McCain. ``Having Obama
speak was not meant as an endorsement, but when you rock the boat, sometimes
people are going to disagree.''

Fowler, who serves as chairman of the Louisiana Hispanic McCain Coalition,
said the cancellation of the New Orleans meeting meant $200,000 in checks
never got to the fundraiser. About 30 CANF members from Florida and other
states had planned to attend.

''I think we have some Miami politics intruding into the Big Easy, and
I don't think that's good for Sen. McCain,'' said Fowler, who is trying
to reschedule the meeting between the senator and the foundation. ``Why
would anybody who is supporting Sen. McCain desire to eliminate people
who are also willing to help?''

The foundation's stated mission is ''advancing freedom and democracy''
on the communist island. But it has sparred with hard-line Cuban-American
leaders over the merits of U.S. aid to dissident groups and the restrictions
on travel and remittances.

CANF president Pepe Hernandez, who planned to go to New Orleans with
chairman Jorge Mas Santos, blamed U.S. Reps. Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart
of Miami for the meeting's collapse.

The two brothers are leading supporters of McCain in Florida and are
vehement supporters of the current restrictions on travel and remittances,
and Hernandez and Mas Santos are supporting their Democratic challengers.
''They are letting their own personal interests undermine the interests
of the McCain campaign and the Cuban-American community,'' Hernandez said.

A spokesman for the Diaz-Balarts denied that they were involved in blocking
the meeting, but added that ``it makes no sense to give ``special treatment
to a group that does not represent the Cuban-American community.''